


True Colours

by Greatnini



Category: Undertale (Video Game), Undertale AU - Fandom
Genre: Error x Ink - Freeform, Errorink - Freeform, Errortale, InkTale, M/M, greatnini, ink x error - Freeform, innkerror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2018-12-11 23:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11724879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greatnini/pseuds/Greatnini
Summary: Many people love the contrary couple of Ink and Error - but how did they get a couple in the first place? Create and Destroy - How do two people, who normally try to kill each other fall in love?This story explores the idea how those two very different characters, destined to be enemies, became a couple - and as life is, not everything along this way is nice and friendly...An attempt to write a story about my current OTP while mostly letting the protagonists stay in character.





	1. The beat of a butterflie's wings

**Author's Note:**

> As I mentioned in the summary, this is a story which tries to depict the evolvement of the relationship between Error and Ink, while trying to stay as close to the canon as possible.
> 
> If you wanna know more about this story, see my art, ask me a question or get informed about updates, visit my tumblr page!
> 
> www.great-nini.tumblr.com
> 
> Have fun and thanks for reading! <3

**TRUE COLOURS**

 

**CHAPTER ONE: THE BEAT OF A BUTTERFLIE'S WINGS**

 

Dim light scattered around the cave, struggling to enlighten the darkness. Two out-codes, beings that existed outside a real universe, were jumping around a stony plateau which had formed inside the cave, giving their best to evade each other's attacks. The place was surrounded by rocks and no one was there to witness the on-going fight.

“Why ͢çan͢'͢t you ͞jus̨t mi̴nd̨ ͟yo͠ur͟ o͢w̛n ̶b͞usin͜e͡s̶s!”, the black skeleton screamed. His voice sounded slightly distorted, as if it was out of place. His whole existence seemed to be out of place – random parts of him simply stopped existing and other's just popped up. From the distance the defending monster was standing you could think an extraordinary angry swarm of bees was surrounding him.

“Because it's way too much fun annoying you!”, yelled the smaller one of them as an answer. His appearance was also that of a skeleton but with a giant fight-brush in his hands. It looked a little bit ridiculous but it was very effective. Right now he had swung it to deflect the magical strings his enemy had thrown at him.

“W̛ḩy do y̨ou al̷w̛a͞ys͝ h̨ave t͝ơ ̸s͞tick͜ your͝ fa̸c͏e”, the other one yelled, seemingly annoyed, “..̶.iņ o̡t͡h̨e̷rs people̢'̶s҉ ͢busi͟nes͞s͘?̶ ” Again he conjured the blue strings, aiming at the white skeleton with the brush and the cape-like scarf. From his finger tips the strings shot through the air. But his aim had been bad and the attacked skeleton, who had set his mind to stop whatever his enemy had planned, was able to dodge the strings by jumping to the side.

“You know I can't let you destroy that universe”, he screamed over the distance between them.

“You've never beaten me and you never will! And you know why?” He pointed the brush at his enemy and added pompously: “Because you suck at your job!”

An undefined sound of rage escaped his rival and the floating particles increased. Following the upward movement of the destroyer's arm, dark bones pierced through the surface beneath. But again the attack was sloppy and with ease the attacked one could dodge – ready to strike back. The two floating pupils inside his skull became sharp and red. It was so easy to provoke Error.

One of the gloved fingers touched a pink vial that was attached to his chest. Immediately the tip of his brush turned pink as well. He swung his brush forward and the bright paint shot toward his enemy. It formed into sharp projectiles, all of the tips pointed at his enemy. Error ducked away, able to dodge nearly all of them. With the sound of breaking glass the rest shuttered as they hit the ground.

“Uuuh Gotcha!”, the light skeleton cheered. But only two of the sharp crystals had found their aim, sticking in Error's left shoulder. With a grim expression the glitching skeleton pulled them out.

“Oh poor Error, did that hurt you?”, he whooped, followed by a dirty laugh. He raised his brush to cast a second attack but he got interrupted by a new wave of sharp bones shooting out of the ground underneath. A mad smile started to form on the black face.

“You ̛know ͟w̨ha͢t y̸our ͠pr̸o͏b̴l̷em̸ ̡is, ̷I̢nk?̷ ”

The glitching skeleton gave his opponent no time to catch himself. Hefty he threw his arm forward and a pile of black bones appeared and shot through the air.

“ _Y̕o͜u̸ ̴tal̸k t̸o̡o͞ mu͝ch._ ”

A second attack followed immediately after. Ink had to throw himself to the dirt to be able to dodge it. He cursed.

“Tha̶t's ͘why̡ you͡ n͘e͞ver ͠win ͞e͠ither.” 

Ink looked up and stared directly into a pair of giant, floating, black animal skulls which hadn't been there a moment before. Quickly he tried to get back to his feet, already knowing that he would have no time to evade the upcoming attack. The jaws of the skulls were already stretched open as far as possible and the protector could see how light was forming inside them. One finger had instinctively tipped the light blue vial. The tip of his brush was glowing in a light blue and he swung it up high over his head, leaving strokes of light blue paint in the air in front of him. 

With ear ripping volume bright beams of magic were shooting out of the conjured skulls, crashing into the paint which had just grew solid. Where the wall had been hit, light was shining through, nearly making it transparent for a moment.

The energy beams died again and merely a moment after, the magic wall ceased from existence as well. It melted to the ground into a puddle of hot blubbering paint. Only the scent of burned air and ozone was left behind. But the giant skulls were already charging again and Ink decided to take this fight more seriously. This time Ink was able to jump aside as the bright beam struck the ground like a thunderbolt where he had stood a moment before.

“Y͝ou ̧ca̧n̢'͏t͟ do̵d̶ge̸ m̡y a̶tt̢a͏c̛ks for ̵ȩver, ͢Ink̕!̴ ”, his opponent screamed angrily from the other side of the cage.

Silently Ink agreed to him. Exhaustion was climbing up his mind, but he couldn't permit that. No more joking around. He had to protect that universe with all his might.

His hand closed around the red vial and the small skeleton closed his eyes.

The maniacal smile spread wider across the face of the glitching skeleton, exposing his bright yellow teeth. He raised his arm again to let the conjured skull blasters attack a third time.

Ink had gotten hold of his magic and the sight of the conjured blasters, ready to attack, filled him with  _Determination._

Error's arm shot down and the conjured blasters followed the order. Again a beam of bright energy split the air between them with a loud blast. Being filled with new energy the protector jumped aside in the last possible moment. But he was prepared - he pressed another finger on the orange vial to change the brush's colour.

Now that the blasters had to reload, he had time to swing up the brush with all his might, aiming at the animal skulls above him. A wave of orange paint flew off his brush, forming into dozens of spikes. Every single one of them exploded as it hit the bony surface. Ink could hear the angry yells of his enemy. But the damage was done - with an unholy scream that let Ink's bones shiver, the blasters first leaned to the side as if they would fall down but then ceased from existence.

Ink looked back to Error, only to face blue strings which shot directly at him. He didn't even had time to curse before they wrapped themselves around his waist tightly. With one mighty jerk the artist got knocked off his feet, loosing grip on his brush as he flew sidewards.

With a loud smash he crashed with his back into the side of a giant rock to their side. The impact compressed his ribcage and he felt his bones quivering. He slid down the rock, hitting the ground with his shoulders first and head second. An ugly cracking sound was transmitted through his bones and echoed inside his head.

For a short moment there was only pain filling his mind, blinding all other senses.

 

The first thing he could feel again next to the pain was that the ground was moving beneath him. Blurred images of the sandy ground directly next to his face appeared. A distant sound reached him. The broken voice of his enemy.

“I hope͟ this͏ was͘ a ̧lesson for ͞y͞ou̷,̸ ̵I̶nk͜.”

Numbly Ink turned his head toward the voice while the ground continued to move. He could see the scheme of the demolished madman who was pulling at his strings that had arisen from his flexed fingers. Ink realised that the ground wasn't actually moving – he was dragged over it. He noticed a new feeling - little stone chippings which were scratching through his fabric, leaving little injuries on the bones underneath. 

The pain of his injuries filled him with  _Determination_ . 

With clenched teeth he reached for the strings that were stretched between him and his enemy. Quickly he pulled his knees towards his chest and stretched them, ejecting himself into the air so he could gain ground under his feet. Abruptly he leaned his whole weight on the strings, pulling them backwards as hard as possible.

Error stumbled forward and Ink was pleased by the surprised scream which followed _._ With stretched out fingers Ink stumbled forward to get hold of his tool and weapon, trying to push away the pain in his shoulder and head.

A frustrated howl informed him that his enemy had realized his mistake. But it was too late, Ink's fingers were about to get a hold of his brush. A grin widened on his skull as his fingers closed around the smooth wood. The tide had turned and determination raged inside him.

With one quick strike of his brush he cut through all strings that had tied him up. He tightened his grip around the brush and let his magic float into it. With fast steps he moved forward, holding the brush in both hands like a weapon, ready to strike.

A good dozen of azure coloured strings were missing him for only inches. While running forward, he let the brush swing through the air in a semi-circle, emerging paint from the tip.

But the other out-code dodged the paint by lifting himself up into the air with the help of his strings, flying over Ink's head. The smaller one tried to slow down but slid across the rocky ground. With a dull thud the darker skeleton landed on the other side of Ink, only a few steps away.

Ink turned around to strike an attack but his enemy was faster. The second time now the artist could only stare into the yellow grin of the maniac as a new wave of strings was targeted at him, unable to evade them. His left arm got wrapped up entirely and the destroyer pulled the strings aside with one mighty tug. Ink screamed as sharp impacts of pain shot through his wounded shoulder down his arm and chest, forcing him to let go of the brush with that hand.

With one mighty pull to the other direction Ink lost his balance and stumbled toward his nemesis. He clenched his teeth together, trying to shut out the pain and tightening the grip around his brush. Determination, hot and angry, was still raging inside him. And the thought that he could end this right now was born out of it.

With one mighty stroke in which he put all his remaining strength, he threw his brush upwards. The brush crushed into the other's chin, knocking him from his feet. Without really realising it the determination had turned the paint into a red-hot colour which spluttered around the taller skeleton. He screamed as he fell to the ground.

“Well your ERROR to pull me closer” said Ink, coming to his feet again. His shoulder was hurting terribly from the strong strike, but it had been worth it. He pressed his right hand onto the shoulder and started circling movements to inspect the damage.

Error didn't answer to Ink's terrible pun. Paint was covering large arias of his lower face, left shoulder and neck.

“F̡͡U̴̷̕C̵͠K̕ ̡t̸̷h͠is͏ ̛͡H̕UR̴T̵̛̕S̨̢”, he screamed, his voice even glitchier than usual. Ink glanced at the destroyer. The particles which floated around him had increased and were buzzing through the air like angry bees, making it look as if they were attacking him. He had only managed to get back into a kneeling position, desperately trying to get rid of the paint on his face. Howling and with fast movements of his hands he tried to brush off the paint that burnt like acid into his clothes and bones. But he only howled more as the paint got stuck to his fingers and burnt into them as well. 

Error now tried to brush off the paint from his face by using his sleeves, but it wasn't really helping him either. A weird sound seemed to shiver through his whole body. Ink blinked.

Did he...whimper?

The attempts to get rid of the sticky paint became more desperately and Error's raising whimpers were filling the silence. Nearly the complete amount of paint had eaten away its way through fabric and had reached the bone. The determination inside Ink had faded and had left a weird emptiness inside him. He blinked again, still not reacting. The shoulders of the dark coloured skeleton were trembling and his fingers twitched uncontrollably. Breath was errupting irregularly and hefty between his clenched teeth. 

The smaller skeleton suddenly felt a stitch where his soul would have been. With no expression visible on his face he simply stared down to his opponent who was writhing in pain.

Now the particles even filled Error's eyes, blinding him. And still this weird whimpering escaped his body. Something in Ink's innermost resonated to that sound of misery. It made him think of a promise he had sworn to live up to.

So Ink made a decision. He pulled himself together and pressed a hand over his green vial. The view of his defeated and helpless rival filled him with  _Empathy_ . It didn't matter any more that Error had tried to destroy that AU – right now he was in real pain and needed help.

The protector stepped closer, raising his hand toward the cowering and trembling skeleton. But although he must be nearly blind, that movement raised Error's attention - suddenly his head shot up, eye-sockets widened. He started crawling back as fast as he could, trying to escape the feared danger. Nonetheless Ink continued to get closer. 

“D̨̡͡O̡͢͟N̸͡'̷T̡ T̨͟OU̧C̢H͝͡ ̛M̶̧E!͞”, Error pressed out in panic. Ink froze in the mid of his movement. The other skeleton's arm gave away under his weight, his injured hands couldn't support him anymore and he dropped on his back. Ink made some carefully steps towards him. Quickly his opponent sat up as if he could feel the presence of his enemy. He desperately tried to get back to his feet without touching the ground with his hands or arms. But Ink had closed the distance before Error had managed to get up. It must have been the change of the light that told Error that Ink was standing right in front of him, because he fell back into a sitting position. He didn't start a new attempt to get up. Shaken to the bone Error only crossed his arms over his head, protecting him from any coming attacks from above.

Again Ink could only stare at his defeated opponent, not sure what to do. His mind didn't want to accept the fact that he was evoking such fear in this other monster. 

In a whimpering but controlled voice Error started talking:

“J͏u͜҉̢s̵̡͠t͘ ͠͞͡do͟͡...w͞h̸̛͠a͏t y̷̕o͜u͠ ha͢ve t͠o ̵d̴o͞.“

Ink flinched back as if he had been hit. Something cold was gripping after him and suddenly he felt utterly helpless. Compassion and sympathy were dominating his emotional pool. It felt so wrong to look at the desperate skeleton. Why wasn't Error fighting back?

“I-i didn't-”, Ink stuttered. How had this happened, he surely hadn't intended to do that much damage. 

Or had he? He had felt so determined to end his enemy, to extinguish the threat to the multiverse. Too much of his determination had floated into the paint as it seemed. Or in this case, anger.

Suddenly he felt sick. Ink shoved the throbbing pain in his shoulder into the back of his conscience. Right now his personal problems didn't matter. 

Ink kneeled down, pulling out a smaller brush from one of his pockets. Error lowered his arms a little. The glitches that had clouded his eyesight had gotten less already and Ink noticed the shocked expression on his rival's face. But Ink simply concentrated on creating paint at the tip of the brush. But it was easy to conjure it as plenty of the emotion which was provided by the green vial was in his system right now. The small brush's tip became a cold lemon green. 

Ink looked directly into Error's face and saw not only the horror he had for the small brush but was also able to clearly see the extent of his attack. His paint had caused way more damage then he had thought was possible – the surface of Error's lower arms and hand bones, which were still partially hiding his face, were frayed. The paint had been so aggressive, it had burned holes through the nearly black jacket, had eaten away the sleeves nearly completely and had left his left shoulder and collarbone bare and burnt. But the face was the worst, as the wast majority of paint had hit it. It looked as if somebody had used a rough file to work on the surface, determined to rearrange the shape of the bare bone.

Ink moved the brush closer to Error's face, but Error flinched back. His pupils jumped from the brush in Ink's hands to the other's face back and forth. As if he couldn't decide who was more dangerous. 

“Hold still”, Ink mumbled and started to slowly move the brush to Error's face a second time. For a moment Ink was sure Error would flinch back again, but to his surprise he didn't. And although he winced when the green brush touched his face, he gave his best to not move as soon as he had realised the green paint wasn't hurting him. 

The paint soaked into the black bones with smacking noises, lost its colour and evened the torn surface. Before he did the second stroke he hesitated for a short while and took the opportunity to study his biggest enemy who was just sitting across from him. A shaky yellow finger tip touched the just healed bone. A frown was rising on Error's face and his hateful eyes shot back to Ink. But Ink simply pressed the brush with the new paint back to Error's face. Again Error twitched instinctively back, but it got better from time to time. The two not matching eyes of the black skeleton were fixing Ink with a mixture of fear and hate, not missing a single movement. 

Carefully Ink applied more and more paint on Error's cheek until the surface was smooth again. Then he moved to the area around the eye sockets. Although his enemy stared alertly at the brush so close to his eyes, not a single sound of complaint escaped him. Ink noticed how the other's body shook less and less the more paint he had applied and the panic was leaving the expression of his opponent. The particles that floated around Error like an angry swarm of bees slowly settled down as well, getting less and less the more bone Ink had restored.

Nobody of them spoke a word. Ink gave his best to only stare on his brush, ignoring the burning gaze of Error which followed all of his movements. It was clear that although his green paint was healing him, Error didn't trust Ink an inch.

It took him some minutes of concentrated silence, but then Ink had restored Error's face. He wanted to move on to his neck and clavicle, but Error quickly backed away.

“Hold still or I can't finish-”, Ink started, but Error interrupted him.

“I͠ h̡ave had e͟nou͘gh of̛ y͝our paint ͏f҉or ̕toda̕y.”

Ink leaned back a little and frowned at his suddenly much more rebellious patient.

“What? But it healed you! What about your face?”

“Ye̶a̵h͟, and wha̴t if͞ you s̷u͞d̨den̶l͠y͡ c̷h̸ange ͘the ̨colour ag͢a̕in͠? ̵S̕pli͢tting m̡y͘ ̵ne͝c̸k in tw̵o?͝ ̕No th̴ank y͘ou.”

Ink's frown deepened. A moment ago Error had been more than keen to get executed by him. But with his biggest injuries gone, his wish to die had seemingly disappeared as well.

“Okay but let me at least heal your hands”, Ink demanded.

Quickly Error folded his arms behind his back to bring them out of reach. Apparently he expected that Ink would throw himself on the injured arms out of a sudden.

“C'mon you can see the brush when I'm working on your hands”, pleaded Ink. Error didn't react, only continued to glare at his opponent. 

After a moment of silence Ink added in a lower voice: “...it looks really painful.”

The glitching skeleton squeezed his eye sockets. He seemed to be weighing the possibilities of getting his arms cut off. The dis- and reappearing particles around him increased their rate for a moment. Then they settled back to the normal amount.

“Fiņe. But͟ ͘d̡o̵n̸'͟t͘ ̶try t҉o͜ ͏f̡oo͘l̶ m̡e.” Very carefully he moved his arms to his chest and then raised them towards Ink. He stretched them as far away as possible from his body so it would be easier for the artist to work – and easier for Error to pull his hands away if needed.

Ink was really careful to not screw it up – he wanted to prove to Error that he could stick to his words. His right hand tipped the green vial again to refill his emotional system – and the wish to prove his reliability as a caretaker filled him with  _Empathy._

As gentle as he could he painted over Error's left palm, then asked him to turn around his hand and continued with his knuckles and fingers. Although his hands were very close to Ink, Error tried to sit as far away as possible. Accidentally Ink touched Error's palm with his own hand and Error twitched away.

“D͝on̶'t ”, was the only word alongside another scowl at him.

No touching. Easy to remember, although Ink really didn't understand what was so devastating about a touch.

After some minutes the work was done and Ink tugged the brush back into his pocket. He grinned at Error: “Good as new!” 

Error only glared at him for a short moment, then examined his hands. He turned his hands around, clenched his hands into fists several times and rubbed his thumbs over his palms. Ink hadn't missed a single spot, all injuries on hands and lower arms were gone. 

“Heh.̢ I t͞hou͠g̨ht y̕ou'͠d̛ screw̡ it͞ ̸u̢p.̸ ”, Error said in a dry voice.

Ink tilted his head. “So I'm allowed to heal your neck then?”

“Do̧ ͏y͟o͡u͝ think I̵'m st͜u͢pid?̡ Jųst̛ be͢ca͞us̷e you͢ ̕got͏ ̢d҉o̷ne͏ ̷s͢om̴et͞hing ri͏gh̛t ͝for͡ ƠNC̴E... ” He didn't complete the sentence and tried to cover up his collarbone and neck instead. But it didn't work as his jacket and sweater were too damaged from the paint to cover his injuries.

“T̕ha̷nķş for ruining m̴y̢ c̸l̢ot͘h, ͠assh҉ole”, he mumbled to himself. Suddenly he froze in the middle of his movements. Ink wondered what kind of thought had hit Error or if his mind had glitched away. He had witnessed that before, but usually that went alongside with weird dial-noises.

Abruptly Error jumped to his feet and backed away a few steps, creating distance between him and his nemesis. 

“Huh?” Ink was puzzled by this. Getting to his feet as well he looked curiously at Error. They faced each other, but neither of them moved. It was impossible to tell what Error was thinking right now. His weirdly shaped eyes stared at Ink, not blinking once. One small and white, the other a mixture of yellow and blue. If this affected his eyesight? Particles flew around his body as always. Ink felt a little tense, not knowing what was coming. Did Error prepare a new attack? 

To his surprise, Error simply tugged his hands into his pockets and spoke “ You coųl̷d have killed me.” 

It felt like something heavy had dropped on Ink's chest. Without really realizing it he crossed his arms in front of his chest. It was true. He could have killed him.  _It would have been easy to kill him,_ whispered a voice from the back of his mind. 

Error wasn't waiting for a response. A crack in reality itself opened and Error stepped inside the just conjured portal. Ink couldn't really say where the portal led to and a moment later, it was gone.

And Ink was alone with his thoughts.

 

 


	2. A shocking proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the second chapter! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I can promise that there will be more updates in the future!
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading <3

**CHAPTER TWO**

Quite some time had passed since their last fight, although it was hard to determine how much exactly. Time followed other rules between the files and nobody measured time outside the regular universes anyway.

  Error stepped through the crack in reality he had just created, which also closed itself right after he had passed through it. He looked around, grasping the situation. The plateau hadn't really changed since his last visit. Everything was still in place, no rock had left its place. Even the burned areas on the ground where the Blasters had struck were still clean as if they were fresh. It wouldn't surprise him if not a single soul had visited that place since his last visit.

  He had barely made two steps before he heard a “swoosh” behind him, followed by dripping sounds of liquid raining down on the ground. Unfortunately this sound combination was way too familiar. And he felt how his mood dropped immediately.

  He turned around only to be greeted by the grinning face of exactly that person, who was at the head of the list with people he didn't like to see. Actually he was pretty much the list, as most people got their soul crushed if they tried to stop the destroyer from his job and otherwise he didn't interact much with people. But the self-appointed protector had no soul Error could crash or take possession of and was also constantly getting in his way. So far he hadn't figured out a way to turn the artist to dust. Not that he hadn't tried.

  The slightly shorter skeleton stepped out of his puddle of paint, looking cockily at him. Even the way he travelled between worlds was annoying the destroyer – he was always leaving behind a mess were he went, altering the code of the worlds a bit.

  “'Sup Error?”, Ink grinned at him. Everything about him was just annoying.

“You.̴ Again.̶ ” Error wasn't even close to grinning.

  “Yeah, it's also nice to see you, just as always.” Although his expression was cheerful and he didn't hurry to come over to him, Error could tell from his movements that the protector was tense – holding the brush in his left hand, ready to strike if needed. And as much as Error would have loved to just throw his strings at him and tangle him up somewhere far far away, he was still carrying around the aching memory of his last fight with the artist. He was really not looking forward to fight Ink again, so he better kept an eye on him.

  “What do you͠ want, Ink.”

“Oh you know, the usual. Looking out for AU's and stuff.”

  Error tucked his hands into his pockets, trying to look as uninterested in this conversation as possible. He would have turned his back to him and just walked away, if he wasn't so paranoid.

  But Ink didn't notice Error's not existing will to be a part of this conversation. Or more likely, he straight  out ignored it.

“And what a coincidence-” Ink was overly emphasizing his next few words, putting his free hand to the side of his face “– you are here as well!”, as if he was totally surprised by Error's physical presence.

  Error stared at the other skeleton. He had no words for this. It was totally obvious that Ink had kept an eye on this AU, only waiting for Error to return. The whispering of the voices which followed him no matter where he was got a little louder, angrier. Why had he returned to this world? Instead of just going to another filthy AU where he could-

  “Oh! You're also wearing a scarf now?”, Ink suddenly disrupted the silence between them. He had discovered the slightly too long azure blue scarf which was wrapped around Error's neck. And he was reaching out his hand to touch it, his hand came closer, too close, there wasn't enough space between him and Ink and _No no no NO NO NOO HE GOT HOLD OF-_

“D̵̡͝O͡N'̕͘T̨͜ T̷̨̨Ǫ̵̕U̸̡C̶H̵̸͘ IT̕!”, he yelled, glitches intensifying around him. He stepped back as quickly as possible, nearly stumbling over his own feet.

   Hatefully he stared at Ink, both hands clenched around his scarf. A prickling tension was crawling through his bones, as if somebody was electrifying him. The voices were expressing their uneasiness by hissing at the other skeleton and Error could feel that his fingers were trembling. He clenched them harder together so Ink couldn't notice his shaking. Anger was forming against the artist. Why had he to make Error look so weak?

  Ink only looked stubbornly at Error. For a moment Error was sure Ink would make a second attempt at pulling at the scarf. But after a moment his expression cheered up again and his body relaxed a little. For Error it was impossible to tell what was going on in Ink's mind and what stupid idea he might have in the next moment. With this unpredictable behaviour he was annoying Error beyond reason. The voices demanded him to stay alerted and Error decided to follow that guide.

  With an now curious expression Ink stepped forward, closing the just arisen gap between them.  Again the other skeleton was just an arm's length away from Error. He instinctively wanted to make a step back to regain the distance, but he forced himself to remain in place. It seemed as Ink always tried to stay as close to Error as possible. Another thing which drove him mad.

  “Why have you decided to wear a scarf?”, Ink asked nearly excited. His moods were changing so quickly, it was unbearable sometimes. Also he couldn't wrap his mind around why Ink was so fascinated by his scarf. Because he himself was wearing one? But he had no interest to figure it out.

  “None of ͘y̸oųr̢ ̴bu̡sine͝s͏s ”, Error growled at Ink.

  Although Ink hadn't actually pulled at the scarf, Error's neck had started to hurt again. It still felt sore and was sensitive to all kind of contact. He suppressed the instinctive gesture to put a hand to the hurting neck. He didn't want to raise further awareness towards it. Actually, this was the reason why he had stolen that scarf in the first place, to avoid contacts with his neck. Not that he would tell Ink this. But Ink didn't seem to care for an actual response anyway.

  “Do you think it's cool?”, he asked, peering at the scarf from different directions. Error made sure that he wouldn't come too close while Ink was walking around him.

“Where did you get it? Or did you make it yourself?”, he continued to bombard him with questions.

  Error knew that expression on Ink's face only too well, and it meant no good. He had to stop him before it was too late-

  “Oh I have an idea!” His excitement had reached a new level. Now he was holding his arms in front of him with clenched fists and was bobbing up and down on his feet. Error could feel how his patience was about to run out.

  “...we can be scarf buddies now!” He even made a small jump. “Doesn't that sound exciting??”

  Error stared motionless at the still bobbing protector. Never in his life he had heard something this stupid. He wondered how one could get so excited over a piece of fabric. Even Ink's pupils were able to annoy him, as they started to change colour and shape although Ink didn't blink. _Even his eyes are exxcited. This is unbearable._

  Feeling how his glitches were already intensifying he tried to find the grain of patience that was still left in his soul. He closed his eyes for a moment, inhaled some air and reopened his eyes again. It hadn't made Ink disappear, but it was helping to get the glitches under control. Before Ink was trying to pull at his scarf a second time, or probably even worse, start a scarf-club, he had to distract the self-appointed protector. The easiest way to achieve this was to change the topic.

  “S̡o͘, w̸h̢a͠t̛ do͝ ͡yo͢u ̧w̕ant̸?”, he growled at Ink. He knew that his distorted voice was sounding weird, but he couldn't help it. With raising glitches it got harder to pronounce the words properly and he honestly didn't care enough to try harder. Furthermore the unfriendly voice in the back of his head demanded parts of his attention. It got harder and harder to ignore.

  The excitement seemed to subside from Ink. He straightened his shoulders, stood a little bit more upright - overall, he seemed more tense again. Although his grin hadn’t slipped off his face, it looked a little forced now.

  “Like I said. Just the usual protecting business.” With now crossed arms, the brush leaning at his side and an unusual fierce grim he continued: “And if you try to touch that AU again...I will stop you.”

  Error raised his chin a little and gave his best to look scornfully down on Ink, although he wasn't that much taller than his rival. A little smirk appeared at the corners of his mouth.

  “Sǫmetim͏e̸s I͜ ŗe̛a̕lly ͏bel̴ie͏v͞e̴ y̕ou̴ are͏ ̶stu̴pi͢d.̕ ”

The fierce expression vanished from immediately from Ink’s face. His eyes changed as he blinked in confusion.

  “What? I will stop you, no matter what. Why is that stupid?” Ink looked startled at Error and his eyes changed again.

  “Apar̵t̴ ̵fr̡o̕m ̨th̕e͢ ͜ob̴vi͝ous? ” Error tilted his head to one side, just enough to not make his neck hurt too much. He couldn’t stop himself, his smirk was turning into a real grin.

  “Y͠ou͞ do̡n't ̵w͜ant ̛me to ̧d͠es͞tr͏oy͞ ̸t͢hoşe̷ ͞A̴U's, r̷i͜g̛h̶t? ”

He shrugged with his shoulders. It was hilarious how confused Ink looked at him. The grin widened. Spreading his arms to emphasize his next words he continued:

  “Al̷l y͟o̢ur bel̵o̶v̨e̛d ̡l͜it̛tle҉ ͢a͏n͞o͟m͘alie͜s ͡wo҉ul͏d͠ ̡be save̢ - i̡f ͜it̸ w͜asn't ͝for m͟e.̵ ”

He tucked both hands back into his jacket, not willing to miss a single change of expression on Ink's face. He wanted to burn the coming moments into his memory as good as possible.

  “S͢o͟ ̶w͜h͟y̛ e̷x͏ac̕t͟ly do͜n't͢ y̢ou̕ bri̸n͏g͡ me ̧dow̷n f̷or̷ goo͠d?”

Ink shoulders dropped and speechlessly he stared at Error, totally stumped for an answer. The maniacal grin spread across the destroyer's face. He even leaned a little closer to enjoy the moment. To his amuse Ink looked a little startled at this movement.

  Error spoke slowly and as clear as possible: “Or are yo̷u a̡lready regretti͢ng that you d̛idn't kill ͡me wh̵e͞n̵ ̡yo͢u had he chanc̕e?͠ ”

  Only inches apart from each other, he could clearly see the mixture of surprise and shock on Ink's face. 

  Quickly Ink leaned away from Error, the grin was for once vanished from his face. Instead he looked speechless, nearly frightened. Error liked that effect. He really gave his best to burn this face of the completely overtaken Ink into his memory. Nevertheless he felt too close and leaned back quickly.

  “Don't y̸ou  want to understand this  or aren't you able t̶o͏?” A terrifying giggle escaped his throat.  “Because t̕h͝ąt's for sure. As long as I'm aroun̢d , your beloved AU's aren't s͜ave͢.” 

  Ink was still not reacting, only staring at him. Only his pupils kept changing with every blink he made. For a moment Error simply enjoyed the scenery, but then decided to tease the other one a little more. He made a plane hand and hold it close above Ink's forehead, still grinning across his whole face. He was enjoying this way too much.

  “But hey – you’ll pr͘oba̸bl͢y  understand this when you g͡ro̴w̶ up a little.”

Error really enjoyed to tease the creator with his height as he was easily triggered at this subject.

  But to his disappointment Ink didn't get angry. He didn't react at all, which was very unlikely for him.

  Instead he wore an expression that Error had never seen before on this face. His eyes were slightly squeezed, he looked to the side and his mouth was shut into a fierce line.

  Error lowered his hand, his grin was exchanged with a frown. That was unusual and he didn’t like unusual things. Normally Ink would scream at him for joking about his height. Had he shocked Ink that much? Error couldn't believe that this thought had never struck Ink before.

  When Ink started to speak again, his voice sounded differently. Somehow less excited than Error was familiar with, nearly dejected.

  “You know Error, I don't want to kill you, actually never wanted to. Because...”

He paused for a moment, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He looked a little lost.

“Because I think you are just...lonely. And probably in need of-”, he inhaled deeply although as a skeleton he wasn't in need of air.

“...a friend. And this may sound weird but, you know I thought...”.

  Again Ink needed a short break to pull himself together. His wandering gaze found Error’s eyes and hold contact. “...I thought we could be friends.”

  He blinked, pupils changing again.

“One day. Probably.”

  Four different eyes were staring at each other. Nobody said a word. Error had the feeling that his mind was rejecting to work, not able to really get hold of his feelings. _What had Ink just said?_

  Ink lifted one arm and put his hand behind his neck, a meaningless gesture. But yet he was resolute, not willing to break the eye contact.

  Suddenly Error felt tense and as if something pulled at him, like a wheel that was turning through him. He couldn’t look at Ink anymore. Instead he looked aside, evading Ink's glance and a half-hearted laugh escaped him. But it sounded weirdly wrong and foreign.

“T͟h҉a̷t̸ sou͞nd̴s͢ p̢ret̡ty͞.̷.͡.̛lau̵g͘h͟a͢b͘le.” He could feel how his glitches started to intensify again. He stared on his hand. Something had risen up inside him, he couldn't tell what it was, it felt as if something had thrown his soul into something cold. This something was dark and painful and was sitting at the rim of his conscience. He rubbed his right hand against right temple, turning a little to the left so Ink couldn't see his face anymore. What made Ink think that they could be friends? Why should any of them want that?

  Feeling somehow stirred up Error stepped aside, turning his face completely away from Ink. The whisper of the voices that followed him everywhere intensified, they sounded flustered. And there was something that felt like a thing he had known once but was forgotten now. He tried to get hold of it, but it slipped only further away, fading away and it wasn't possible to tell what it wa-

  Suddenly Ink's face appeared directly in front of his own, only inches apart. He must had jumped around him to stay in front of him, but this startled Error that much that he stumbled backwards. He couldn't keep his balance and a frustrated shout of pain escaped him as he hit the ground. The cold thing slipped away from his conscience and was replaced with the pain of his bumped pelvis. Glitches were buzzing angrily around him and the voices started to howl louder in his head.

  “Oopsi”, he heard Ink saying somewhere above him. Error felt how his annoyance started to turn into rage. The voices pushed him, demanding to give into his rage. Even more glitches started to buzz around him, filling his eyes, blinding him.

“Uh, need a hand?”

  It was hard to understand Ink, as with arising glitches his sense of hearing suffered, but he could make out the meaning. He flinched back nontheless.

  “Į̧ ̵̡҉d͢҉҉o͟͟͠n̵̨͠͝'̴͠͡t̵҉͝ ̧͢n̶̵͞͞e̸̴̢̡͘e̕͟d̸̡͜ ͢͜y͏͡͡ơ̷̛͢͡u̴̕r̶̵͟ ͏͢h̡͢e͏̶̢l̴̴p͡! ”

Error could hear his own distorted voice and reason told him to wait until he had calmed down a bit. But he didn’t want to reasonable right now, the voices wouldn’t let him anyway. He felt helpless on the ground and he couldn't trust Ink to not take advantage of him.

  Feeling embarrassed and nearly blind Error tried to get back to his feet, but unfortunately he had forgotten his new, slightly too long scarf.

  And Error tripped again, this time forwards, landing painfully on his hands and arms.

Above him he could hear how Ink started to snort.

“Ppfff you should have probably accepted my offer!”

  Ink's laughing was ringing through Error's head as if he had screamed right next to his skull. Error felt how he started to quiver, he boiled with rage. Although he was still nearly blind, his second attempt to get up was succesfully. Through his glitches he could make out Ink, right in front of him, laughing himself silly.

“You can't imagine how funny this looked!” He was even holding his sides, so funny this was to him. In Error raged his anger and he clenched his fists at his side. The voices got louder and angrier with him. They had gotten so loud that he nearly overheard Ink’s next words. But only nearly.

  “You just”, a more intense laugh made him pause for a moment “you just _fall back_ to the ground!” and he continued with his laughter. Through his glitches Error could make out that Ink was using his brush as a prop, leaning one arm on it. Holding one hand up, probably to his forehead, he repeated: “You just”, not being able to end the sentence as his voice cracked from laughter.

  Suddenly Ink hunched over, holding one hand to his mouth and although Error was not even close to full sight he could tell what was happening. But it was already too late as black ink was puked over him.

“Oh hehe oopsi”

This was the last straw that broke the camel's back. For a moment he stared at his own hand which was, just as his sweater, soaked in black, sticky ink. And then Error gave in into his rage. The voices cheered.

  The destroyer conjured azure strings from his fingers, throwing them at Ink. Simultaneously he opened a portal behind the protector and let strings flew out of them as well.

Ink was completely wrapped up within seconds, his brush had fallen to the ground. The voices demanded to hurt Ink.

  “Woah no Error wait-” Error could not really make out Ink's face as he had still trouble to see clearly again, his glitches buzzed around him like a thunderstorm. But with pleasure Error noticed that Ink wasn't laughing any more.

  “Y̨o͠u'v̵e̴ ŗ͝u̵̧i̶̢n͟e͘͠d ̧̧͢m̡̕͜y c͞l͘͟o̴͡t̶h ͘͘t̕wi͢ç̶e̶ ̷no̵̡͞w̷͟͜ .”

  He felt so angry. How dared Ink to laugh at him when he was at his weakest point?

“L̷e̵͏t ̶m̨e҉͢ ͏r̸̷͟e̢͜ţ͜҉u͠͠r̵n ̶y̢͠o̴̵u̶ ̴̨th̵̷e̵͡҉ fa҉vo͢͝u̸̕r͏̵.҉ ”

  And Error threw another pair of strings after Ink, now aiming for the belt over Ink's chest. With a strong pull he tore it off from Ink's body.

“No Error!”, panic was resonating in his voice. But Error didn't care. Ink had gone too far.

  With a movement of his arm he severed the strings between him and Ink and let the ones from behind pull Ink toward the portal. He flew backwards through the portal.

“ERR-”, screamed Ink but his words were cut in half as the crack in reality had closed itself after him.

  Only the two immovable objects Ink had left behind were proof that he had been here.

  The belt on which all Ink's colour vials were attached was lying close to Error's feet. But he couldn’t care less to actually pick them up.

  Instead he pressed his hands on his hurting eyes, trembling at the whole body. No actual sound was made, although Error could still hear the voices in the back of his head. They were calming down although some of them were disappointed. They had wanted more. The particles were still buzzing around him and only slowly, very slowly, they reached a bearable level.

  After some minutes, or hours, Error didn't know and didn't care, he lowered his arms again. He was able to see clearly again; the glitches had set down to their normal amount. And the voices were only whispers in the back of his head. Finally, he could ignore them.

  He was alone. Ink hadn't returned. His items were still lying on the ground, the colour belt right to his feet and the brush a little further away. Ink's two dearest possessions.

  Error left them where they were, not willing to touch them. If he would pick them up, Ink would only come and search for them to get them back. Furthermore, he didn't trust neither the brush nor the colour vials. Who knew what they would do to him.

  As if on cue his neck started to hurt again. With a frown Error looked around the abandoned place. He didn't feel like he was able to go through the effort of destroying this place. Probably another time.

  And Error opened another crack in reality, leaving the plateau and Ink's items behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have some thoughts on the story, leave me a commend either here or on my tumblr page: www.great-nini.tumblr.com


	3. ROOM 101

CHAPTER THREE: ROOM 101

 

  The world around Ink flew by as the azure strings pulled him through the portal into the other dimension. He screamed for Error, but it was already too late. Only one last glance at the destroyer before the portal closed in front of him, cutting him off from the world he had just been in.

  His back crashed into the solid ground, sliding over it some moments before he came to a halt. He knew immediately where Error had send him: into the white hell. Slowly he sat up, looking around himself. Nothing was around him, only plane colourless ground against colourless infinite background. No being was around this place, nothing existed here on its own. He was stranded in the anti-void. The place Ink feared most of all.

  The strings had gotten loose now that Error wasn't around anymore. With some precise grips he had removed them all from his body. Carefully he got to his feet, his back was still hurting him. Slowly he looked around himself, but of course, there was nothing, no matter where he looked. This wasn’t a regular place; it was the place between places – nobody would ever get here by accident. Ink couldn’t stand this nothingness and instinctively reached for his vials to feel some refreshing magic streaming through his mind and body, but of course there was nothing. He stared down his chest, only to see what he already knew. Error had gotten his vials, together with his brush.

  For a moment he remained at staring at his chest. The realisation trickled into his mind but it was hard to accept it.

  He was cut off from his essential items. Without his brush and his colour vials he was not only defenceless, he was lost. Fear started to climb up in him, but he tried to press those feelings down. He made the movement of inhaling to calm down, but he couldn’t feel air brushing over his bones. Was there even air in the anti-void? However, this situation wasn't hopeless. There had to be something he could to.

  “Error!”, Ink yelled into the void. His voice sounded muffled to him although he had spoken quite loud. The anti-void was swallowing the sound as if the small skeleton was yelling into a pillow. It seemed as if the place didn't let anything exist, not even sound waves.

  “Error, can you hear me?”, he tried again, this time even louder. There was no response. Not even an echo. He looked around, searching for a sign that Error might have heard him. This was after all one of the destroyer's favourite places. Or at least he spent a lot of time here. Ink really couldn't understand why; this place was already getting into his mind.

  But there was no sign that Error had heard him, nothing had changed at all. Following an instinct Ink put a hand to the ground, just to feel something that was real in this place. The ground was perfectly plane, perfectly white and perfectly faded into everything else. His fingertips wandered around the ground, pressing a bit against it. But he couldn’t find any flaws in it – no variance, no bumps or scratches. Ink stared at it, trying to find anything, but he didn’t even found his own reflection on it. Although the floor was solid, he couldn’t tell it apart from its surroundings. It could have ended right next to him, and he wouldn’t be able to see it. He couldn’t even tell if it had a temperature. It felt nearly fake touching it.

  His right index finger started twitching and a headache started to press against his skull. This wasn’t right. This place was so undefined, it shouldn’t exist. Nothing should be so close to being nothing. It was so wrong that a place like this even existed and everything inside him yearned for leaving this place.

  Ink started to shiver and stood up again.

  White, nothing but white around him, the worst condition of something. Or better, this emptiness was representing the lack of a condition. Everything here was without form and characteristic as if somebody had removed as much as possible before removing space itself. And only white had remained.

  And Ink couldn't deal with that. Old memories of him being an empty void very similar started to crawl into his conscience and it was nearly impossible to toss those down.

  He started to wander around, heading into no specific direction. He continued to yell for Error, asking if he could hear him. But still there was no answer. The worst was that Ink couldn't even tell if he was moving forward or not, as nothing changed around him. Not even a shadow was cast on the ground below him, making it impossible to tell if there was an actual light source. Nothing seemed to exist in this place, so sound, no light, no far and close, no up and down. Ink's head started to feel dizzy.

  Continuing to walk around, not sure where he was heading, he tried to find something that was different. He yelled for Error over and over again.

  But there was only white around him.

Only more white.

White and emptiness, no matter where he looked.

And more white, white in all eternity.

  His mind was racing; how could he escape that hell? The vials had been his source of magic and without them and his brush he wasn't able to create a portal to another dimension. But that wasn’t what scared him most – the vials where much more important for him than just for creating a portal to a better place. The silence started to press into his skull, panic started to reach for him. He was completely alone.

  He stopped walking. What if Error had already returned to look for him, but hadn’t been able to find him, because he had walked too far? He would surely look for him where he had left him, right?

  So Ink turned to go back to where he had come from, but he immediately realised that his was impossible. From where had he come exactly? And how far had he walked?

  Cold fear was invading his mind. The realisation that he was lost was hovering right above him, but tried to deny it. With a fierce pace he walked in the direction he believed to be the right path back to his starting point. Hopefully he looked right and left, nearly expecting to see Error’s head somewhere, peeking out of a portal.

  But short after he stopped again. He had no idea how far he had actually walked, nor if he had even walked in a straight line. Ink could feel how the void was starting to affect his mind and he tried to hold on to his emotions. Without the renewing of his vials they started to fade away.

  The artist pressed his hands against his eye sockets, shutting out the piercing white. “Pull yourself together”, he mumbled, trying to suppress the uprising panic. He was feeling fear. He was _still feeling._ Things weren’t lost yet, he could still manage to find a way out.

  Ink removed his hands from his eyes, a little calmer now. He had to concentrate, there must be something he could do. Something that would help him escape that hell.

  Suddenly he had an idea. He nearly laughed out loud when he realised it. Error himself had provided him with an orientation, something that would guide him back to his starting place. The strings. Right after he had entered the void he had slipped them off – so they were still lying around. It was so easy - he had only to find them and he would know where he had started. It would be his anchor in this abandoned place. And after some time Error eventually would come to get him.

  His eyes were scanning the surroundings to the horizon - if there was a horizon. A little blue inside the white surely had to stand out. Turning around his own axis he tried to find the strings, squeezing his eyes to see them better. But he couldn't see them. How long was he turning around himself now? Had he already fulfilled a full circle? Probably he had missed something, so he kept turning.

  But there was nothing, no blue peeked out of the white. He turned back to what he believed was his original heading direction. Or probably a little more left. Surely more left. Or a little bit more to the right instead?

  Ink had gained nothing, but had lost the remaining orientation instead. He shivered.

  “Error! Come back!”, he screamed angrily into the void. This scumbag was surely hearing him, only ignoring him. This was probably a game to him. Figuring out how long Ink was able to withstand the void before he would give in. But he wouldn't do Error this favour.

  “Get me out of here! Answer to me!”, he screamed even louder, as loud as he could. His hollow voice sounded pathetic. But again there was no sign that anybody had heard him. He didn’t want to show Error his weakness. How strong his surroundings were affecting him. Because by now he was convinced that Error must be watching, enjoying his little game.

  Thoughts were racing through Ink's mind. Probably yelling at him wasn’t the right move. Dots were dancing in front of his eyes, but he knew that they were only an optic illusion, his mind was trying to fill the emptiness with something. His shaking got stronger and he couldn’t help it.

  “Hey I'm sorry okay? Please just get me out of here!”, Ink yelled into the void. More of the cold drowning fear invaded his mind. He tried again to plead, but it sounded even more pathetic.

  And although he didn't want to show Error that he wasn't strong enough he felt how he was starting to lose it. The silence pierced into his skull like a physical force, fear was tightening his body and his shivers got stronger. And even worse, his whole conscience started to slip away and he needed to get a hold on it.

  With clenched shaking fists he started to yell. Yelling for Error, demanding to let him out of this place, that this wasn't funny anymore. He wildly waved his arms to let out his frustration, screaming against where normally a sky would have been. And as he got no reaction he started to curse Error, moved around, screaming empty threads into the void. Ink would get him, he would find a way on his own and he would punish Error for what he had done to him.

  Time passed. Ink was shaking and still nothing changed around him, there was not the slightest change, only this terrible white. Suddenly the world seemed to fall to the side. His balance left him and he was stumbling around, nearly falling to the ground. The curses against Error turned into a frustrated howl and he screamed everything out that was raging inside him until he had calmed down again.

  He felt weak. His anger had left him, he had screamed it all out and nothing was left to build anger again. Ink had burned up his emotions with this outburst too fast. His knees gave up under his shivers and he hit the ground. Now only the fear remained to make up his mind. And this silence which was pressing into his mind, this horrifying silence which seemed to swallow the life Ink was trying to hold on to.

  He had clenched his arms around his body, trying to hold himself together, feeling as if he would break apart any moment.

  Ink started talking to himself. In the beginning it were words of encouragement. There was no way Error was not hearing him. It couldn't be, he would return. Over and over again he told it himself. But he started to doubt it. And soon he wasn’t able to provide those words of fake encouragement any more. But he kept on mumbling words. Senseless mumbling to fill the silence with sound.   

  He didn’t even try to get up again. His body was letting him down. And so was his mind, he felt how the emptiness was filling him, how everything of him was fading. Tears were rushing down his face and sobs formed in his chest. His dreams and hopes, his memories, everything that defined him was leaving his body like air from a friable balloon. And there was nothing he could do, only fear remained in his mind.

  Trying to distract himself, he wondered why exactly fear was fading at the very end. Why couldn’t joy be the last emotion that faded from his mind? Then he would at least be able to enjoy his remaining moments. But the bad emotions were always sticking till the end. The bad and the analytic part, as it seemed. His sobs increased. Great, he was still able to analyse his situation. And he wouldn't be able to leave the anti-void on his own. He was stuck here in eternity.

  Suddenly a spark lit up inside his head. There was something he could do, why hadn’t he thought earlier about it? With shaky hands he nibbled on the little pocket at his side, getting hold of the smaller brush that he was carrying around all the time. He had never tried that before and thus hadn’t thought of it before. But in theory it could work. At least he told himself he might be. Why shouldn’t he be able to draw a portal with the smaller brush as well? It was the magic, not the brush which was creating the portal. It was a small spark of hope, but right now it was keeping his mind together.

  He was holding the brush with both of his trembling hands, trying to fill the tip with colour. It was much harder than usually. Normally it was his magic that filled the brush with colour. The magic was provided from his vials and those also provided his emotions. It was the easiest to fill the brush with the emotion which was dominating him right now, just as the brush had turned red when he had been determined to defeat Error. But now that he had no replenishment any more, the magic couldn’t come from the vials; it was draining his conscience.

  With shaking hands clenched to the brush, he stared at the tip of the brush. Nothing had happened yet. It was pathetic how hard he was trying and how little was happening. Why hadn’t he tried this sooner, when he had been richer with emotion?

  But suddenly a pale purple appeared on the tip of the brush. He concentrated even harder, putting his everything in this brush. The purple got a little bit more intense.

  Immediately Ink kneeled down and draw a stroke over the plane ground. If he could cover a surface big enough, he could turn it with a final spark into a portal and would be able to leave - 

  But the colour didn't stick to the surface. Instead it went pale immediately after touching the ground. Ink could only stare at the again colourless surface. This had been his last idea. His last chance to leave this place.

  Again he tried it, he pushed more of his emotions, more of his being into the brush to achieve a richer colour. But the same thing happened. The colour faded immediately after it had touched the ground and Ink felt drained by trying it.

  He could only stare at the ground and his shaking hands. That had been his last hope. And he had failed. Why hadn’t he thought earlier about it, before he had used up his emotions on screaming at Error. Screaming at the hollow void.

  Now he was too weak, this effort had only accelerated the vanishing of his emotions. Nearly nothing of him was left.

  Again he wrapped his arms around himself, fingers clenched into the fabric of his cloth, trying to hold together what was left of him. More sobs were escaping his compressed chest, growing into actual crying. There he was cowering now, living through his worst nightmare, just because he hadn't been able to behave. Because he hadn't paid attention. Because he had been stupid.

  He tried to hate himself for it but there was not enough left inside him to form hate, not even against himself.

  “I'm so sorry, Error”, he sobbed. It wasn't loud enough, he knew it. Even if Error was listening he would most probably not be able to hear it. But he wasn't strong enough any more to speak louder.

“I'm so sorry.” He hadn't want that. He should not have laughed at Error, but he hadn't been able to help it.

“Please”, he sobbed, pushing everything in those words.

“Get me out of here.”

But nothing was around him except the unforgiving white. White that burnt into his eyes, pierced into his skull and invaded his mind. He was drowning and he knew he couldn't help it. After all, he was alone.

  He could feel how he calmed down. His arms were loosening its grips, sinking useless to his sides. Even the fear died down, but he didn't feel relieved. Relief was not an emotion he was able to feel any more. His head sunk down onto his chest, staring blank into his lap.

  And then all emotions had left him, leaving behind an empty, lifeless shell in the mid of nowhere.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading my story! I love to read your comments and ideas how the plot will continue, they make my day!! <3
> 
>  
> 
> If you want to get more information, see my art or want to leave me a message, go visit my tumblr page: www.great-nini.tumblr.com


	4. The fixer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may be wondering "Niniii why did it take so f**king long to update!! You said you have already written the first ten chapters so PUBLISH THEM" and you are right, I should explain myself.
> 
> But first: THE CHAPTER!! ;)

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FIXER

 

Somewhere in the middle of white, curled up in his azure strings, Error was trying to take a nap. There were only two places where he could finally come to rest. The silence here in the anti-void was soothing his soul, which made it number one.

    All those wrong AU's out there, all those made up universes that were taking the places of the real ones - he couldn't stand it. But here in the anti-void were no distracting anomalies or other things that didn't belong there. No matter where he looked, there was nothing around him. Just the perfect white surface in all directions. This place could only be described as flawless.

    But somehow Error couldn't come to rest at this moment – which exact moment this was, was impossible to tell as there was nothing to qualify time here.

   Normally Error wasn't really the type to take naps. There was too much work to do, too many anomalies that crowded up the multiverse. But he hadn’t found something which could heal his neck completely. It was still hurting. He couldn’t think of something smart to do, so he had decided that taking a nap wouldn’t hurt trying.

    If he were just able to fall asleep. Alternately he closed and opened his eyes. Turned around, trying to lay in a more comfortable position. He couldn't tell how long he was already trying, it had been probably hours already. It least it felt like an eternity, which was all that mattered in this timeless place.

    He made the decision to finally give up on the matter.

    Growling he sat up in his tangle of strings which were holding him up over the surface. No ceiling was above him, so it seemed as if the strings disappeared in eternity above him. But Error didn't question it. He honestly didn't care about the rules of this place, if they were working in his favour.

    The reason why Error's neck was still hurting could be the new sweater, as it was itching a bit. After many failed attempts to repair the old one, he had simply decided to replace it. It had seemed impossible to restore the scorched fibre and he wasn't able to knit such tight meshes himself. Furthermore, it hadn't been that difficult to find an AU that hold a red sweater in his size.

    Somewhere else, an Underfell Sans was wondering where his laundry had gone.

    But the jacket was something completely different. He couldn't really tell why, but he was very attached to this jacket. He had never seen a similar one even once when he had been travelling through the multiverse. But his jacket wasn’t better off than the sweater. His tries to recover the sleeves had all failed and after many frustrated vain attempts he had finally decided to cut them off. It was hurting him in his very being to shorten his beloved sleeves, but he hadn’t seen another possibility.

  After the second meeting with Ink, Error had been so frustrated and he still was. Ink must have decided that melting his bones and cloth hadn't been enough, no - Ink had had to puke on him. It had taken him even more time to get finally rid of the black ink. But of course, Ink’s ink wasn’t easily removable. Not that the black ink was standing out that much to the dark bluish jacket, but it was just enough to drive Error made. Not seeing another possibility, he had had to steal extra strong detergent.

    Somewhere else the Underfell Sans tried to explain to his boss where the detergent had gone.

    Now parts of his beloved jacket where a little bleached, but only from the wrong ankle. Unfortunately, the shorted sleeves only reached to the mid of his forearms. It simply looked ridiculous. But he tried to convince himself that it didn't matter.

    With a frown he looked down his arms to the new ending of his jacket. A sole thread was peering out of the end.

    Just because he didn’t care about his looks, didn't mean that he would be satisfied with a sloppy job. So Error decided to work on them again. The anomalies had to wait.

    From a hidden pocket inside his jacket he got out his sewing supplies. He took off the jacket and laid it carefully in his lap, so he could work comfortably. Highly concentrated he renewed threads that weren't in quite the right place. While uttering pointless muttering he went along the whole sleeve and pulled out everything that didn’t look right to him. As suddenly a wrong movement let pain shoot through his neck. He cursed.

    Carefully he removed the blue scarf he had been wearing to protect his sore neck. Although he had already made bad experience with that scarf lately, he kind of liked it. The way the smooth fabric was caressing his bones was just pleasant. But he had sworn to himself to never wear a scarf near Ink ever again.

    Cautiously he touched his neck-bones. They were sensitive to contact, although it had already improved. He could still feel the little irregularities on the bone under his fingertips. But he knew that not even more healing supplies would help it. He wondered if this would ever properly heal on its own.

     _Ink could heal them_ whispered an idea in his head. Error frowned at that. It was true, neither his face nor his hands were sore or hurting, the artist had done a good job on them. But asking Ink for an actual favour wasn't a thing he was willing to do. Even if he was begging, the protector would only make fun of him. Error frowned at that thought.

    He started to work on the seams again, although his hands were a little trembling. Even if Ink wouldn't fool him, he would most probably screw it up in the end anyway, most probably leaving Error crippled in the end. Of course, only if Ink cared enough to try in the first place.

    Error started to drag harder on his thread without noticing it.

    Even the thought that he would have to look for the cocky protector to ask him for a favour after Ink had ruined his cloth _twice_ , had made fun of him and annoyed him whenever he got the opportunity to do so, made Error mad.

   He dragged even harder at the thread.

   No, he would rather keep his sore neck in all eternity. He wouldn't go through the blame of asking Ink for an actual favour. Could that be the actual reason why he had injured Error so bad in the first place? So that Error had to come back to him, asking for a favour?

    Could the thought process of the protector be so twisted and cruel?

    Making nearly no noise, the thread snapped in two.

    Error just stared at his work. His thoughts had carried him away and now he had torn apart the last good thread he had possessed. He started to curse again, but his voice was muffled. Normally he liked it that this place swallowed everything, but if he was in rage it was quite frustrating not being able to proper yell.

    Now he had to go find a nice shop that sold sewing supplies. Following his thoughts, the strings let him free and he landed on the white surface, barely making any sound. He snapped with his fingers and reality bend itself, opening a portal to an AU where he hoped to find that kind of shop.

 

    Quite some time later, Error returned. It had been way more complicated to find matching sewing supplies than he had thought. Only after a good dozen of tries he had found what he was looking for. Next to new threads he had also taken some fabrics, fill material, buttons and other stuff he might need for future crafts. Unfortunately, the shopkeeper had been so annoying that Error had to dust their soul. But it had been a terrible Temmie-verse anyway. Why would anyone make a whole universe just of Temmies? Their sole existence must mean pain. Error had done them a favour by not sparing them.

    It seemed like an eternity before Error could accept the result of his efforts to restore the sleeves. But he didn't mind the time he needed to repair it. Time didn't mean anything to him at this place and he was practised in showing patience. How else would he be able to go and extinguish the whole code of an AU. If you did that wrong, started at the wrong point or missed some lines of code, you even created a bigger mess. And if you rushed it, it could get out of control. The code of worlds wasn’t static, quite the opposite. It nearly acted like a living being and it was defending itself when somebody started to destroy it. You had to be patient to really get a hold of everything and then - destroy it with one blast. But before you could even start, you needed to get control over everybody who was able to affect the code as well. In most cases the overly determined human and that flower. Both were manipulating the code of the world, which made work a pain in the ass, even though they didn't interact with it directly.

    Error paused to think about how many AU's there were still left. Probably a few thousand, or one hundred thousand. Probably a million. Probably more – but numbers didn’t mean anything to him. All he had to know was that there were _too many_ of those horrible AU's, spreading like a terrible disease. Although he had never tried to count those abominations, he was sure there couldn’t be infinite of them. And this was the problem – they were ousting the original universes, those who belonged here. If he wasn’t doing something about it, the multiverse would explode at some point.

    Error got up to his feet, taking on his jacket. He sighed. The short sleeves were still annoying him. But there was work to do, he had been idle for too long already.

  Again he snapped with his fingers and reality bend to create a portal. Time to destroy that Temmie-verse.

 

Error had some of those rare moments – close to be in a good mood, even the voices seemed to be cheerful. Everything had worked as planned, he had gotten hold over the human soul, he had been able to remove the whole code nice and clean from existence and nobody had interfered to stop him.

  The last part astonished him a bit. Lately Ink had kept such a close eye on the multiverse that Error had had the feeling of being outright stalked by the protector. He hadn't been able to do a single step into a universe without being found by the annoying skeleton. Error couldn’t even remember when the last had been he hadn’t been disrupted.

    So where had he been this time? Had he been busy doing other things?

    Error didn't mind. He had done a good job, cleaning this multiverse from another filthy mistake, bringing it one step closer to a desirable condition. Of course, nobody would thank him, but he was used to it. _You are doing a thankless job, but it's necessary_ whispered it in his head. The voices echoed it repeatedly into his head.

   He had to agree to them. They were completely right. And it would have been rather insane to not agree to his own thoughts.

    Nevertheless, his mind returned to the question why Ink hadn't tried to stop him. Error didn't know much about the private life of his rival and thus had no idea what had probably distracted the self-appointed protector. What was Ink doing anyway when he wasn’t annoying Error?

    He stopped himself. He shouldn't care. If Ink was failing at his job, Error would be the last one to complain. It meant that he could fulfil his duty without being disrupted by that annoying little man.

    Error tried to enjoy the silence of the anti-void, to absorb something of its peaceful aura.

    But that one question didn't stop to tackle his mind. What had stopped Ink? Why had he missed that opportunity to annoy the destroyer?

    Error started to think about an answer, although he had denied himself just that.

    There weren’t many possible scenarios to consider. First, Ink could have been busy protecting some other AU. Second, he had just failed to realise that Error had destroyed an AU in the first place. This seemed not so impossible to Error, as Ink wasn't able to concentrate on something for more than a few minutes. Or, third, Ink had just lost track of his beloved anomalies and hadn’t missed it yet. Or, fourth and Error’s favourite, could it be possible that Ink had just given up on his pathetic mission to keep the garbage safe?

    No, Error thought to himself, Ink had been most probably distracted. He really wasn't good with concentrating to long on the same thing. Although he was quite a threat when fighting against him, as his hurting neck reminded him.

  Not having anything to do to distract himself, Error's thoughts circled inexorable over the subject. It didn't make any sense. Was that a trick of Ink? Had he finally figured out the ultimate way to annoy Error? To annoy him by _not_ annoying him? _His thoughts must be very twisted,_ thought Error to himself without noticing the irony.

    What would happen, if he visited that one place, Ink would surely be looking at? Like that AU he had tried to destroy a while ago, where they had had that fight. He could test his theories, whether Ink was fooling him or not. There was nothing he could lose. If Ink had only been a bad observer he would show up and annoy Error again and Error could be sure that everything was still at normal. And if he didn't show up...

    Error's thoughts made a pause, not sure what would be proven if Ink didn't show up. Sure, he could destroy that AU without being distracted again.

    However, he was quite certain Ink would show up and the destroyer could be sure that everything stayed inside known parameters. He didn't like it if he didn't know the rules he was playing by.

    But he should probably take off his scarf before he was visiting that AU again.

 

    A few minutes later Error's feet touched the rocky ground of the plateau he and Ink had met quite some time ago. The first time he had chosen to visit that plateau was because the layer between the reality everybody could see, and the code that lied behind it, was very thin here. This made it easier to examine it before he started to actually plan how to destroy it. There was a big variety of code out there and every other condition needed other treatment to be properly deleted. Furthermore, he could avoid a lot of struggle if he found information about the world before trying to wipe out its inhabitants.

    The first thing that Error noticed was that nothing had actually changed since his last visit. Literary nothing. Ink's colour vials and his brush were still lying on the ground as if nobody had touched them since Error's last visit.

    Error frowned. Why had Ink put his items there, as if he hadn't touched them? Was it a trap?

    Quickly he turned around, expecting to be attacked from behind. But there was nothing but the motionless rock. Curiously he turned back to the items. Probably Ink had seen that he was coming and had prepared a trap for him.

    Error wasn’t stupid. If this was a trap, he surely wouldn't head straight to the items like a fool. Turning on his own axis Error examined the environment. Smooth rock around him, not one clue that anybody was close by. A lot of spots to hide weren't offered by the place as well.

    Nevertheless, Error took his time to carefully go around the whole plateau, looking behind every rock and into every rock fissure that was big enough to hold a small person. Any place that Ink could use as a hiding spot.

    But Error couldn’t find anything. Nothing that would prove his theory. Error’s frown deepened – what was Ink trying to achieve here? Why would Ink leave his beloved items here if he wasn't waiting for Error? Or was he waiting just outside the universe? But why?

    Error tilted his head a bit to the side, ignoring the pain. To him it looked as if he was supposed to examine those items, but he didn't dare to step any closer. It was just too suspicious. The destroyer imagined that the protector would jump from behind some rocks to do something incredibly stupid. For example, throwing himself at Error, trying to hug him or something comparable tremendous. Again, he quickly turned around, but the rocks hadn’t moved an inch.

    The destroyer wasn't sure what to do. It was too suspicious and it didn't make any sense to him – but Ink almost never made any sense to him. Most probably it was just a joke Error wasn't getting.

  “Ink̢? ͏Yo͢u h͟ȩre?̶ ”, he yelled at the empty place. His yell sounded pathetic. He was nearly grateful nobody was responding to it. But Ink was most probably sitting somewhere where Error hadn’t looked yet, laughing himself silly that Error was so confused over this.

    Again the destroyer looked around. But still – not a single clue that Ink was close by. He really couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on. But apparently there was only one way to find it out.

    Carefully he stepped a little closer to Ink's possessions. One last glance over his shoulder before he conjured his strings and wrapped them around the belt with the colour vials. He didn't dare to go for the brush - he simply didn't trust it. With practised hand movement he got easily hold of the belt. Still nothing happened. No movement nor sound were made.

    Error examined the belt a little closer. There were ten vials attached to it, starting from yellow on the bottom and ending in some kind of blue at the top. Nothing special was to say about them although they looked a little paler than he had remembered them. But he couldn’t be sure about it - he had never looked so close to them before.

    Not daring to touch one of the vials itself - he wouldn't risk it to get burnt again, even though he didn’t quite believe the magic was working through the glass - he let the belt drop back to the ground. Again, he looked around, even more puzzled than before. Ink hadn't shown up, not jumped out of one of the rock fissures.

    Indeed, nothing had happened at all.

    And suddenly it hit Error. Those items hadn’t been carefully put on the ground on purpose. Indeed, they had never been touched since their last visit.

    But this would mean...

    With a weird feeling Error snapped with his fingers and instantly reality started to deform itself. Two points in space time which weren't meant to touch each other, were now touching. The portal cracked open, the rim fuzzy as his portals usually were. With a very strange feeling and not sure what to expect, Error stepped through it. He entered the place where he had abandoned Ink last time they had met. At least he hoped it would be that place, it had been quite a while and Error wasn't sure if he remembered the spot correctly.

    Error stepped through the hole in reality, and at first, he was greeted by the usual emptiness and silence of the void. On first sight, nothing but the void itself was present. But then he turned around and discovered him. A small figure that was sitting on the ground, with his back turned to him. But although Error's eyesight was pretty bad, there was no doubt it was Ink. Who else should be sitting in the anti-void anyway.

    As if by magic Error started to head toward Ink. The strange feeling was resting upon him and the voices started to mutter indistinctly. Why was Ink sitting here in the void? Something told him, that he was missing something quite important, but he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. So, he continued to approach Ink from behind. Apparently, Ink hadn't noticed him yet. He made no move. But that was only understandable, the sound of Error's footsteps wasn't carried very far.

  “Hey, ͞Ink͟! ”, he yelled into the anti-void. His voice was nearly completely swallowed by the nothingness. No reaction from Ink. He surely hadn’t heard him.

    Error came closer to the protector, starting to see sharper and clearer forms.

“W̴hy a̧r̷e you̶ ̴si̡tti͞n̛g ͘he̢rȩ? ͢Is t̕hat͢ ͝suppo̷s͟e͡d̨ ̴t̴o ͘b̧e͡ ̵a ͞j̕o̸ke͘? ”, Error said, this time louder. He must be in hearing range now, although his voice was still muffled.

    But still there was no reaction. And that weird feeling that something was wrong got stronger and stronger.

    Error had reached the motionless Ink. This was so confusing. Normally he couldn’t sit still for a few moments, not even seconds, and now he completely ignored his presence? That wasn't anything like Ink at all. And Error wasn't a fan of the unusual.

    Yet Error hadn’t been able to look at Ink directly. Perhaps the protector was sleeping, so Error stepped around Ink to get a glance at his rival's face.

    And he could feel how something heavy and cold dropped inside his chest, freezing his soul.

  This thing in front of him wasn’t Ink. What was in front of him looked like a dull, lifeless replication of the Ink he knew. His head had fallen onto his chest so Error couldn't see his face properly and Ink's arms were tangling useless at his side.

    An unsettling feeling was spreading inside Error. That wasn't good. His mind felt pressured, what had happened to Ink? No body tension was left in Ink’s limbs.

  “Ink?”, Error asked again and he had to notice that fear was lying in his voice. Ink was sitting there, but it didn’t look like there was any life left inside him. More like a toy that somebody had thrown away. Or like…a corpse.

“Y͏ǫu ̡ok̕ay̡?” But he didn't receive an answer, not even a twitch of a finger or the shrug of a shoulder. Nothing that would have proven that Ink was still inside this dull shell.

    Following an impulse Error pointed with a finger at Ink. For a moment he imagined what would happen if he would actually touch him – Ink might jump at him, this could still be a trap after all.

    So instead of touching the small skeleton he conjured some strings and attached them loosely at Ink's shoulder.

    No reaction.

    Lightly Error started to pull, not sure what he was expecting, but Ink was still not reacting. As if Error wouldn't even exist. Error pulled a little stronger and jumped backwards as Ink suddenly moved.

    But Ink hadn't moved on his own. The lifeless body had simply lost the balance and had fallen to the side. Now he was laying there, his limbs bended in weird ankles that were surely uncomfortable, making him look even more lifeless than before.

    He looked...dead.

    Something froze inside Error. Ink's head had turned a little to the side as he had fallen over. And now Error could see at the face of the protector. It was totally expression less. 

    But the most disturbing thing were the eyes. Normally Ink's eyes were changing shape and colour every time he blinked and Error had thought more than once that it was quite annoying. But it had always represented the life inside this bustling skeleton.

    Right now, there was no life inside those eyes. They had turned into small expressionless dots.

    Error's mind refused to work. It was as if somebody had unplugged him. Particles increased around him, buzzing like bees.

    He couldn't stop to stare at those once with excitement sparkling pupils which had turned dull and grey. There was no clue that those eyes had not always been cold and dead.

    And suddenly the plug to Error's mind was plugged in again. A storm of different emotions and forces flooded inside him and started to rage against each other. He could feel how he started to glitch with a critical strength. The voices were screaming incomprehensible things, not even words, but they weren't the worst. A part of him just couldn't take it, couldn't cope with it and this old desire he had always struggled with, to simply give in into his glitches returned. He was filled with trembling fear to lose control and crash again. Other things couldn't be named, things that felt like they didn't belong into his head, like they belonged to another person and all of them were trying to win the fight over the control of his body. Error felt like he would be torn apart and he knew that he had to fight to keep it together, that he had to gain back control-

  And then, Error crashed.

 

 

 

    Error was never able to tell how much time had passed during a crash. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. Nobody had ever told him how long it took to recover or if it was varying in length. There was nobody Error could ask those kind of questions, but he had figured out that generally, it couldn't be too long. All he knew was that he had no kind of memory from the time he had stopped working. Whenever he woke up again, his glitches had returned to a bearable level and his first task was to figure out how the situation around him had changed.

    This time nothing had changed. The lifeless creature was still lying in front of him and although the sight still disturbed him, Error was sure he wouldn't crash again.

    But his head was still dizzy and clouded and from experience he knew that it would take some minutes to clear his mind from the repercussion of the crash. Those different forces were still working against each other but Error could push them into the back of his head. At least he had gained the control over his body back.

    He couldn't put it into rational thoughts, but suddenly Error knew what to do. Two loose pieces of information had connected inside his head, forming one thought that shined in his mind like a navigation light.

    His fingers were still trembling from the current crash, but managed to snap with his fingers nevertheless. The empty room next to him started to shimmer and with a crackling noise reality split up, creating a connection between two places which weren't connected before. It was a new portal to the plateau – the old portal had crashed with him. He stepped through it.

    Once he was on the plateau his body was on autopilot. Somehow, he knew what to do to get the life back into Ink, to fix that mistake. It wasn't right how Ink was lying there. And his job was it to fix things which were wrong.

    He grabbed the belt with the vials with one hand and after some hesitation, he also grabbed the brush. It was way heavier than he had thought it would be. With trembling steps, he went through the portal again to enter the white anti-void. Following his idea and cautious to not accidentally touch the creator, he put those items close to Ink. He made sure the colour vials were close to the chest of the smaller skeleton, were they would normally be.

    Error stepped back, staring at the lifeless skeleton. His mind started to work more rational again and he started to wonder whether his plan would work or not. A question started to nag at his mind. _Why do you care_ , but he pushed the thought away. He didn't allow himself to question things this short after a crash.

    Something caught his eye. Error kneeled, to get a better look at it, although he was still distant enough from Ink. Just in case he had to jump back out of a sudden.

    Error wondered if the colour vials had indeed gotten brighter or if he had imagined that. He stared at them, squeezing his eye-sockets to get a better look at them. Yes indeed, the colour vials had gotten brighter. And... had that finger twitched a little?

    Suddenly a shiver went through the smaller skeleton and Error flinched back a little. Ink's finger twitched and to Errors relief, his pupils started to fill with colour again.

  Ink closed his eye-sockets and moaned, pulling his arms closer to him to move them into a more comfortable position. It looked as if he was waking up and Error stared at him with a mixture of curiosity and relief. He could feel how tension dropped from him, leaving him relieved.

    Ink pushed his upper body up with a grim expression on his face. He looked as if he was worn out from a very exhausting fight.

    And then he stared straight into Error's face.

    They just looked at each other. His pupils suddenly started to change shape and colour and they didn't stop. Panic started to form on Ink's face. Error didn't know what to do and neither seemed Ink to know.

    Ink started to blink rapidly and pressed a hand on his eye-socket. It looked as if his eyes were hurting him. The question if Ink was okay formed inside Error but it didn't make it to his mouth. Instead he just continued to stare at the other skeleton, who was suddenly looking around him in panic. He grabbed his belt tight with one hand and got hold of his brush with the other. Looking tense he stood up, although his knees were shaky.

    “Uhm”, Error commented. He stood up as well. Ink stared frightened at his completely confused opponent, holding the eye contact for merely a second before he stumbled through Error's portal.

  “Hey! W̸a͢i̛t!”, Error yelled after him, puzzled by his behaviour. He stepped through his portal as well only to see that Ink had drawn a puddle of paint a few steps away. The crackling sound behind Error told him that his own portal had closed itself. Without a last glance back to Error, Ink simply jumped inside the puddle of paint and vanished.

    Error needed a moment to realise what had happened. Now he was alone in that AU Ink had tried to protect so much, staring at the point where Ink had stood only a mere moment ago. Error couldn't quite describe what he was feeling. For a few moments he only stood around, trying to understand what had happened.

    He looked around the place, suddenly remembering why he had come here in the first place. He had wanted to destroy this universe and now he was very close to the code. And completely alone. It wouldn't take a lot of effort to destroy that place.

    But he didn't feel like destroying it. Instead he just stood there for another few minutes, trying to figure out what to do.

  And then he left as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo welcome to the end notes of that chapter :D I hoped you enjoyed what I gave to you. I reaaally enjoyed your theories, what Error would do with Ink and what would happen with Ink in the anti-void. So if you have any theories, leave them in the comments or in my tumblr ask box! (www.great-nini.tumblr.com/ask) 
> 
> I said above I would speak about why this update took so fricking long. And I will.
> 
> I could tell you how busy my life was, that university has started and that I have to earn money somehow, that I plan on opening a shop, that I participate at the Inktober challenge and and and.
> 
> But this isn't actually the reason this chapter was so delayed. If I want to do something, I will find time for it. That's at least my moral.
> 
> The actual reason this was delayed was...that I doubted the chore structure of this story. You probably know Nightmare!Sans, and Dream!Sans, right? Well, I had planned to let them take a part in my story. A rather important part, tbh (I know this is a spoiler, but you don't know what they are doing so I guess it's okay). But I had heard about Joku's attitude (Joku is the creator of Nightmare and Dream, if you don't know her) and I felt pretty disgusted. I didn't want to connect myself to her in any way. If you don't know her, good for you, if you do know her, you probably know what I'm talking about.
> 
> But unfortunately, her characters are...very important for this plot. I mean I could swap their characters with OTHER characters, but I had to make them up, and from a story telling point, it wouldn't increase the value of the story. Yes, I could write without Nightmare and Dream, but I can only replace them with a Nightmare-like character and a Dream-like character. Which is kinda pointless.
> 
> So I hurt my brain about it, how to fix the plot. How can I change the story so I don't need those characters.
> 
> And I had to face the truth - I can't. I can't "cut them out" without writing a completely different story. And I don't feel like creating a new story, just now where I have started. So to conclude: I hurt my brains in the past weeks about changing the plot, but I decided I won't. I will use Nightmare and Dream, but I will change them up a little bit (I planned to do that anyway because some points of their character just MAKE NO FRIGGING SENSE). Just as I changed Ink and Error (although that had other reasons lol).
> 
> So good news: I will continue the story as I planned it!  
> Bad news: I will most probably not be satisfied with the outcome. But I keep telling myself: better finished than perfect.
> 
> If you have read until here - you earned my respect. And a cookie.
> 
> THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND YOUR SUPPORT <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading the first chapter of this story! As you may notice, there is still a lot of work needed before those two can become a couple, don't you think?
> 
> Please leave your thoughts in the comments or on my tumblr page - it would make my day! <3


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